Posts Tagged ‘census’
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
Figure 1. The U.S. Census Bureau's current questions about race and ethnicity. Click for full-size image.
Fifteen years ago the U.S. Census Bureau removed “Hispanic” from its question about race and instead created a stand-alone question to assess Hispanic ethnicity. It’s the reason we often advise our clients to ask about race and ethnicity separately, using questions similar to the Census Bureau’s, which are shown in Figure 1.
Well, chances are good that this will be soon be revised back to include Hispanic in a single question about race. The Census Bureau just concluded a large-scale study to assess the reliability and validity of its race and ethnicity measures, along with several potential alternatives. It involved questionnaires and re-interviews with a sample of nearly half a million households, plus 67 focus groups with nearly 800 people. (more…)
Tags: census, Data Collection, survey, Survey Design, survey respondents
Posted in Data Collection, Future Trends, Market Research, Survey Design | Comments Off
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012
Every ten years the Census Bureau provides a count of all people living in the United States. More importantly, the Census Bureau and other agencies conduct ongoing surveys of the population to document crucial facts and figures about who we are.
And every year, it seems, these agencies come under attack from politicians who would like to do away with all public goods. This year it is the American Community Survey that is under attack, as described in this article from The Wall Street Journal. Prominent professional and business groups (including AAPOR, The American Association of Public Opinion Research, of which we are members) of all political and non-political persuasions are working to fend off the attack.
Here are two reasons why you and your company should aggressively support our efforts to protect the Bureau’s data collection efforts: (more…)
Tags: census, da, methods, privacy, Public Polls, research, statistics
Posted in Data Analysis & Analytics, Future Trends, Market Research, Methods & Tools, Public Polls, Resources and Recommendations | Comments Off
Thursday, May 26th, 2011
A new study presented by two professors from Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst was probably one of the liveliest and potentially disruptive presentations at least week’s annual meeting of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) in Phoenix.
Why? Because their research challenges the beliefs of many AAPOR-ites who disregard most online research as being theoretically indefensible since it is not based on probability sampling. The research presented was based on parallel surveys conducted last year, designed to allow careful comparison of three survey modes: (more…)
Tags: bias, census, Data Collection, Internet, journalism, media, news, Online Surveys, phone surveys, public opinion, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling
Posted in Data Collection, Methods & Tools, Online Surveys, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling | Comments Off
Friday, December 10th, 2010
The idea of sampling is not hard to grasp, but methodological discussions about sampling can quickly move into the higher reaches of mathematics and probability that confuse even researchers who are not statisticians. Ever wonder what we are talking about when we refer to “probability samples?” Or the rationale for not reporting margins of error? Or why there is no such thing as a “statistically significant sample size?”
AAPOR and the ASA are offering a great way for non-statisticians to learn more about sampling. AAPOR is the American Association of Public Opinion Research, and the ASA is the American Statistical Association. In February they are hosting an introductory webinar on sampling for non-statisticians that that we recommend. It is being taught by a senior statistician at NORC, and will cover such topics as: (more…)
Tags: census, Sampling
Posted in Data Collection, Methods & Tools, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling | Comments Off
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
The U.S. Census is one of the most useful tools for research and marketing because it tells you how many people fit specific demographic profiles and where they live. It started out as a simple count of how many people live in each state in order to allocate congressional seats. But it has since become a rich source of insight, with information about Americans’ age, family composition, work status, income, education, housing, and more.
While the Census provides basic tabulations and counts on its website, you can also query the data yourself to answer specific, customized questions that you are unable to find otherwise. In fact, using this data is so easy that Versta no longer uses the Census’ rather difficult and ever-changing “fact finder” features. We have downloaded the data along with a codebook, and use a statistics program to run specific queries and counts of anything we need. (more…)
Tags: census, demographics, Market Research, population, statistics, survey
Posted in Future Trends, Market Research, Methods & Tools, Uncategorized | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
Mistakes to Avoid when Conducting a Public Relations Survey
Surveys and polls can be powerful tools to understand what people are thinking and doing, and they can provide good data for public relations efforts and community outreach. Unfortunately they can also be gimmicks, which erodes trust in polling and in the organizations sponsoring them.
(more…)
Tags: bias, census, population, public opinion, Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling, trust
Posted in Public Polls, Public Relations, Sampling | 1 Comment »
